


matching

by katierosefun



Series: Whumptober [Clone Wars] [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, BAMF Anakin Skywalker, BAMF Obi-Wan Kenobi, Caretaking, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Waking up Restrained, Whumptober 2020, how does one tag i have forgotten how to tag, shackles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26748871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katierosefun/pseuds/katierosefun
Summary: Anakin and Obi-Wan both wake up on a pirate ship. They get matching scars.
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Whumptober [Clone Wars] [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1504868
Comments: 7
Kudos: 144





	matching

Anakin couldn't feel his wrist, which he would have been concerned about if his head didn't hurt so much or if he was so cold. He couldn't remember why he was cold—there had to be a good reason why he was cold and also why he was _wet_ — _why was he wet_ —

Anakin pried open his eyes, and for a startling second, he wondered if he had gone blind, because he couldn't see anything—but no, that wasn't right, because now Anakin could actually see silvery drops of rain come down on him, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see—

"Obi-Wan," Anakin managed out. His throat hurt. Just another thing to add to the list of hurts in and on his body. He shifted his head against what he now knew was the rain-slick floor of...Anakin looked around his surroundings. Looked at the dark sky still dripping with rain, looked up. They were on a boat. Somehow, they had gotten on a boat. A boat with...what Anakin could see were lots of crates and barrels of something that smelled foul. Fish? Maybe fish. He saw a bizarre looking fin on the ground.

But that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that Obi-Wan was slowly stirring awake, his blue-grey eyes dull and disoriented.

"'kin," Obi-Wan murmured. He started to sit up, only to come crashing back down on his elbows a moment later. "What—"

They both looked down at the shackles wrapped around their wrists. The chains that led to a heavy box of what Anakin knew were probably weights.

Anakin looked down. Lightsaber—he had to have his lightsaber around here somewhere—

"Looking for these, Jedi?"

Anakin looked up to see a leering man standing at the prow of the ship. One leering man, and a few other men and women dressed in a mix of rags and expensive wear. _Pirates_. Not exactly the same kind or brand of pirates that Anakin had run into before. Not the kind of pirates that Hondo ran, at least. These pirates were different, all of their expressions haggard and oddly hungry in a way that Anakin didn't like. Meanwhile, the captain—Anakin decided that had to be the captain, anyways, remained standing at the prow. He had his hands wrapped around Anakin and Obi-Wan's lightsaber hilts, the expression on his face one of cold triumph. He thought he had already won.

Which was his mistake.

"Yeah," Anakin said, hoping that his voice sounded stronger than he felt. "Thanks."

He tried to lift himself off the slippery ground, find some focus and pull the lightsabers back, but suddenly the captain became two captains, and the line of pirates before him turned into a whole crowd.

Anakin wasn't sure if he was standing up or sitting down, but he felt the cool ground under his head a moment later and knew from the cold in his stomach that _huh, this was not good._

_What did he do?_

"If we knew capturing two Jedi would be this easy, we would have started doing this _years_ ago," the captain was saying now, and Anakin heard the rhythmic _thunk-thunk-thunk_ of boots coming down the steps. A moment later, Anakin found the captain's ugly face leering down at him. He smelled something sour and cringed.

A low laugh, and then Anakin felt an oily hand on his chin—

"Whoever your employers are, the Republic can pay an even higher sum," Obi-Wan said suddenly.

"It would be in your best interest to drop this deal _now_."

The captain dropped Anakin's chin. Anakin rubbed his chin against the shoulder of his tunic, scowled up at the captain. If he could just stop seeing double for a second, he could have that captain down in a heartbeat—

But the captain was walking over to Obi-Wan. "In my best interest, you say?"

"Indeed," Obi-Wan replied. His voice was steady, a little hoarse from whatever it was that also hurt Anakin's throat. "Anything other than that will result in the Republic painting a target on your backs. You do not want them as your enemy."

" _Them_ as _our_ enemy!" the captain laughed. "A bold assumption, Master Jedi—it should be the _Republic_ that's afraid of _us_!"

Anakin heard footsteps—the captain's footsteps were moving away from now, were instead heading in the direction of Obi-Wan behind him. Anakin started to turn himself around. Or turned himself around to the best of his ability. His head still ached, and his body still felt heavy, but he managed to find Obi-Wan.

The captain had stopped in front of Obi-Wan. Anakin could see their lightsabers dangling from the captain's belt now: so close. If Anakin just reached up, he would be able to grab them back in a flash. Of course, there were the other pirates behind Anakin. He could feel all of their eyes on him, but by the time they fired the first shot, Anakin and Obi-Wan would both be on the move.

Hopefully on the move. Anakin's head still hurt, and for a moment, he saw two versions of the captain, and he blinked.

 _What happened_ —

Anakin couldn't even remember what had happened before they had been hauled onto this ship. He had hazy memories of being stuck in a seedy bar with Obi-Wan, and the two of them had been looking for...someone. Maybe they had been looking for this captain. But then _something_ had happened, clearly...a sharp pain at the side of his neck, and then darkness.

That was what happened. Anakin could bet that there must have been some kind of tranquilizer there, something that dampened and slowed his movements. That, and the shackles around Anakin's wrists weren't the kind that he had been used to before: these shackles _hurt_ , hurt whenever Anakin moved himself even the slightest bit. They dug into his wrists, and as he shifted against the ground, he spotted a flash of red. _Huh_. He was pretty sure that hadn't been there a few minutes ago.

But that didn't matter.

Anakin looked up to the lightsabers still dangling at the captain's belt. If he could just reach up…

But then the lightsabers swayed away as the captain leaned down to Obi-Wan. "Do you even know who you're dealing with? We are the power of the oceans on this planet—we _control_ this planet _and_ this system."

"And for all that power, you still hold us here on behalf of someone else," Obi-Wan said. He tilted his head a little towards the captain. Anakin could see some of the haze on his former master's face clearing, bracing himself. "So tell me, Captain—if you and your crew are the power of this planet and this system, why do you answer to an off-worlder?"

Anakin heard the growl from the captain and knew that now was better than never.

He launched himself up, snapped the lightsabers free from the captain's belt. The roar of blaster fire filled Anakin's ears as he spun around, tossed Obi-Wan's lightsaber down to his former master just as a fist came his way.

Anakin ducked to the side, turned on his saber as a sharp pain knifed its way up his wrist, his forearm. But he didn't have time to look—he couldn't look, because the blaster fire had somehow gotten louder, and when Anakin looked up, he found that more crew members had scrambled up from the lower half of the ship. _Okay, fine_ —

Out of the corner of his eye, Anakin saw Obi-Wan deflecting bolts with only the briefest of pauses in between each stroke of the saber. The _shackles_ —they had to get the shackles off—

If they could get some actual cover, maybe—

Anakin eyed the crates and barrels of the rotten-smelling things around him.

" _Obi-Wan_ —" Anakin ducked again as the captain came barrelling forward.

But Anakin didn't have to finish whatever he was going to say—in a moment, Anakin saw the barrels go crashing into the pirates. A few were knocked right into the waves below, and the blaster fire significantly slowed as a mix of pirates either backed away or tried to look for the fallen crewmates. So _some_ moral compass, then. Nice to know.

But the captain was a different story. He didn't seem to notice that more than half his crew were dangling over the edge or were already in the water. Or, if he did, he only seemed to get angrier. Anakin wasn't sure.

He grinned.

The captain snarled and charged.

Which was his mistake.

Anakin ducked to the side again, but this time, he gave himself just enough room to come up on the captain's other side. He hooked his arms over the captain's shoulders, yanked the captain back against himself by the shackles around Anakin's wrists. Another flare of pain traveled up Anakin's arm—brighter, harsher, this time enough to just barely keep Anakin from crying out.

But he couldn't, and he didn't, not as he backed up the edge of the ship.

Instantly, the blaster fire stopped as every crew mate's eyes fixed on Anakin and the captain and the glowing lightsaber just barely hovering above the captain's neck. With his own wrists shackled, Anakin could feel that heat of his saber even more than he normally would, too, but he didn't care. He held the captain a little tighter, even though he absolutely _reeked_.

"So," Anakin said. "Anyone feel like getting this thing back to where our ships are, or do we have to do it ourselves?" Anakin tugged both the captain and himself a little closer to the edge of the ship. Let his lightsaber come an inch closer to the captain's neck. "I'd choose carefully."

A silence.

Anakin saw Obi-Wan back away a few steps, just enough so that if Anakin let go of the captain, he could probably reach him. He caught Obi-Wan's eye—Obi-Wan lifted his eyebrows, gave him a small eye-roll that Anakin knew meant _show off_.

And despite the chaos around him, Anakin couldn't help but smirk. _What did you expect?_

"Well?" Anakin asked now, adjusting his grip on the captain. "Anyone going to step up and give us an actual answer?"

Anakin felt the captain tense up a second before the first blaster fired.

He wasn't sure who had fired in the first place—might have been one of the crewmates that had just come up from belowdecks, but Anakin deflected the shot easily. He heard more shots around him, saw Obi-Wan's blur of a lightsaber out of the corner of his eye. Anakin ducked his head, moved to grab the captain back, but then he felt a cold hand wrap around his wrist, and then pain again, this time harsher and more vicious, and Anakin only just had enough time to see the captain's leering face before he was suddenly pushed back—

Anakin felt something dig into his back this time—the railing of the ship. He felt hands close around his throat, and then a sudden _push_ —

Anakin gritted his teeth. _Yeah, right_ , he thought, and he pushed back.

More pain dug into Anakin's wrist as he pushed his hands up, found the captain's chin. He jerked his hands up, heard the loud crack of his hand finding the captain. The captain let out a sharp cry and stumbled backwards, and Anakin pushed himself off the railing, trying to regain his breath and also some feeling back into his wrist, because—

Anakin looked down briefly. He could have sworn the shackles were wrapped tighter around his wrists now, but he couldn't remember if—

It didn't matter.

The captain lunged again—and this time, Anakin decided that he wasn't in the mood for any more dancing.

"Anakin—" Obi-Wan was calling for him now, but Anakin was tired.

When the captain tried to reach for his throat again, Anakin grabbed the back of the captain's shirt and, ignoring the pain that shot up his arm again, Anakin pushed the captain overboard. He heard the captain's shout, the splash, and then—Anakin watched with both mild interest and disgust as he watched a strangely large fin move through the water.

When the captain stopped shouting, Anakin turned back around to the crew members.

"Well?" he growled.

This time, the crew members skittered across the deck.

 _Good_.

"Anakin."

Anakin looked up. Obi-Wan had deactivated his lightsaber, and the rain made him look cold and tired, and Anakin wondered if he looked the same.

Obi-Wan looked down at Anakin's wrist. The one that Anakin could feel throbbing and needling over with pain. "Let's get those things off you first."

"What about—"

"Don't worry about me," Obi-Wan replied. "Sit down."

"I don't need—"

"Sit _down_."

Anakin sat down.

Obi-Wan knelt down beside him, and Anakin was surprised to see him withdraw a small key. "When did you…"

"When he was talking to me," Obi-Wan replied. "He wasn't paying attention." He looked at Anakin, and for a moment, Anakin thought Obi-Wan would take this opportunity to lecture him again, but Obi-Wan only looked back down at the shackles around Anakin's wrists. "Hold still."

"I _am_ —" But the rest of Anakin's words were interrupted by his own wince as Obi-Wan removed one shackle. Anakin looked down at his wrist—at the angry red welts and the faintest trickle of blood. "Huh." Anakin started to lift his other hand to the welts, but Obi-Wan pushed his hand away.

"Don't _touch_ it," Obi-Wan said sternly.

"It's not _that_ bad—"

"Your reaction a moment ago suggests otherwise."

"I was surprised. Now come on, your turn."

Anakin took the key, picked at the locks on Obi-Wan's shackles. Obi-Wan looked to the side, the only sign of his own discomfort being the slight clench of his jaw and a sharper intake of breath. Anakin let the shackles fall to the ground, and he looked down at the matching welts and scrapes on Obi-Wan's wrists.

They looked down at their matching cuts for a little bit.

And then Obi-Wan said, "Let's see if we can take care of this, shall we?"

\--

"Hold _still_ —"

"I _am_ —"

"You're _not_ —"

Anakin dropped his head back against the wall, staring determinedly up at the ceiling as Obi-Wan applied the bacta. He closed his eyes, squeezed his hand into a fist as Obi-Wan's fingers skirted over a particularly stinging cut. When Obi-Wan paused, Anakin said, "It's fine."

Obi-Wan made a small sound of disbelief.

Anakin looked at Obi-Wan. The only source of light: a flickering lantern swinging near the ceiling, cast a shadow over Obi-Wan's face. Under that dim light, Anakin could make out the grave features on his former master's face, the careful set of his mouth and his eyes.

"Finished," Obi-Wan said at last. He dropped Anakin's wrist. Reached for the bacta again.

"Let me," Anakin said.

Obi-Wan didn't argue. Anakin dipped his hand into the bacta, looked down at Obi-Wan's wrist. At least Obi-Wan only had to take care of the one—it wasn't like Anakin's gloved hand could feel much anyways.

Anakin picked up Obi-Wan's hand and dabbed the bacta over his wrists. He felt Obi-Wan stiffen a little underneath him, but besides that, there was no other reaction. Anakin turned Obi-Wan's hand over, took care of the other side of his wrist. "Other hand."

They sat in silence. Anakin could hear the water slapping against the sides of the ship, which he found interesting—the walls weren't as thick as he had thought they were, apparently. He wondered if he should be worried about that, but frankly, after the events of today, he wasn't in the mood to be worried.

And he was sure Obi-Wan was too tired to be worried, too.

The lantern rocked above them.

Anakin half-expected a lecture from Obi-Wan any minute now—something about how Anakin had thrown the captain overboard, but Obi-Wan didn't say anything. He just rubbed at his wrists, a blank expression on his face.

"Does it hurt?" Anakin asked.

Obi-Wan looked at him. "No," he replied. He nodded down to Anakin's wrist. "And…"

"No," Anakin replied.

\--

When they finally got back to the cruiser, they shared information on what happened with pirates. Something about the pirates probably being in bed with the Separatists, perhaps someone giving the specific order to take care of Obi-Wan and Anakin when they had landed on the docking port, et cetera.

All the while, Anakin rubbed at his wrist. The welts had faded, but Anakin could have sworn he still saw the scar from where the cut had been. He wasn't entirely sure if that was just a trick of the light at first—but later, when Obi-Wan reached to shut off the holoprojector, Anakin saw the same matching scar on Obi-Wan's wrist.

Obi-Wan caught Anakin looking, and he gave Anakin a wry, tight-lipped smile.

 _We match_ , Anakin thought suddenly.

He almost said that out loud, but he decided that was better left in the silence.

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for whumptober day 1, the prompt being 'let's hang out sometime', followed by the subprompts 'waking up restrained, shackles, and hanging'. I went with 'waking up restrained' and 'shackles'!
> 
> As always, comments/kudos are greatly appreciated!


End file.
